Has your marketing funnel collapsed? You’re not alone, say media experts at The Drum Live

The debate took place during the panel Show Me the Media Money, featuring Sally Weaver, founder of Craft Media; Koncha Bubani, global thought leader at Kantar; Richard Clay, chief strategy officer at Zenith; and Dan Patton, director of digital publishing and audience data at immersive media venue Outernet. Together, they explored how marketers can navigate integration, what still works in TV, the rise of retail media and influencers and the role AI is set to play in the future of planning.

The collapse of the funnel

Craft Media’s Sally Weaver set the tone: “I think the biggest change is the lack of rigidity, which I think is a good thing in that sort of classic funnel marketers always like to talk about. What we’re seeing, or have seen over the last few years, is that channels can play any role. And that’s brilliant from a planning point of view, because it gives us creativity. It gives us flexibility to kind of do more interesting things, rather than the sort of classic broadcast-to-narrowcast targeting that we used to do.”

Zenith’s Richard Clay agreed the funnel is no longer a guiding framework. “There is obviously still value in funnels as a way to frame thinking,” he said. “But I’d definitely say that things are way more connected and collapsed. It’s very difficult to say that is the only way to think about media and marketing. In a world where, if you give your money to Google, they don’t really think of funnels at all – they’ll say, ‘Well, take a demand gen campaign and just give it to us all’ and they have to optimize.”

Consumers are more receptive than marketers think

Bubani revealed Kantar’s latest findings: “We just launched our media reaction study this week and it basically shows that now 57% of people are welcoming towards ads. That’s crazy, because just five years ago it was around 20%. It already shows you that marketers are doing a better and better job, but I think it’s very funny that they don’t think so.”

She explained why: “If it’s a good campaign, it starts from a single, clear brief, but then everybody does their own thing for their own channel. When we look at our database, we see that half of the campaign impact comes from people being exposed to more than one channel – not just seeing TV, not just seeing out-of-home, but actually seeing both.”

But marketers themselves remain less convinced of integration. “Integration has gone down by like 20% over the past five years,” she added. Weaver suggested the problem often lies inside organisations: “The dissatisfaction from a client point of view comes from the infrastructure within the existing businesses. For decades, they have siloed channels, so it feels to them like it’s not well integrated. But the reality is, when people perceive those messages, it is starting to work.”

The enduring power of TV

Despite frequent predictions of its decline, TV continues to deliver unmatched brand impact. “When we look at our database, TV is still number one,” said Weaver. “It’s still those cultural moments across the week, the things that everybody talks about, whether they’re watching it live or on demand. It’s still excellent content for brands to be associated with. And when it comes to advertising, people trust it as well – number one, not just for customers but also for marketers.”

Clay added: “It feels like there’s a tension. There’s really good evidence that TV works really well. For loads of clients, it’s the first thing they put in their plan. But when CMOs are taking plans to the board, they don’t necessarily want to say they’re doing all linear TV. They want to show modernity – Netflix, Disney – because that looks new. But in the background, there’s still an acknowledgement that TV, in all its forms, is a bigger part of most brands’ plans.”

Bubani emphasised the importance of mixing formats: “I can’t remember the last time we planned linear only for a brand. There’s always support around. The frequency build-up you get by having online video, VOD and linear together is fantastic to drive action.”

Immersive media and earned reach

Patton showcased Outernet as a channel that combines digital, experiential and social impact. “Where new immersive spaces like Outernet fit into the mix is that brands can do everything with us,” he said. “If they want multi-channel marketing – combine digital out-of-home with experiential, maybe create a moment that gets shared on social so they get that kind of national reach – then they’re going to come to someone like us.”

The shareability of these experiences is a key advantage: “Independent research shows that 50% of our visitors share what they see on screen, regardless of whether it’s a concert or an ad, because in that space it’s impressive.”

He also stressed the importance of measurement: “We’ve come up with our own audience measurement system called PIAMS, which provides TV-style overnight reporting for brand campaigns. Big brands like Samsung are fine-tuning their campaign mid-flight using our real-time audience data. Brands are delighted, because they can prototype and respond during the campaign, which they’re not used to doing in out-of-home.”

Retail media and influencer spend

Clay noted retail media’s strongest value lies with endemic brands: “The brands that can see that clear line of sight from ad to sale are naturally and rightly making sure they’re scaling retail media. For others, measurement and infrastructure need to catch up.”

Bubani pointed out that consumer acceptance is already there: “In our top five globally, we have three Amazon brands – Amazon number one, Twitch fourth and Prime Video fifth. It shows how well they use first-party data to serve consumers in a way they’re OK seeing advertising. But they still need to convince marketers.”

On influencers, Clay was cautious: “You’ve got to be really sure your measurement is driving true incrementality and that you have infrastructure to make sure any old content doesn’t just make it onto the internet.”

Patton described Unilever’s influencer-heavy Comfort campaign at Outernet: “I was slightly puzzled at the amount of priority they had on influencer marketing, but the more I was involved, I realized it was about the KPIs. The influencers weren’t right for every brand, but for them, the KPIs were about brand fame. That’s why Ellie Simmonds, Rylan and a whole panoply of celebrities trod down to Outernet – because it made excellent press coverage.”

The role of AI

Clay warned of the risks of over-automation: “AI is obviously really exciting. It can make the process enormously more efficient. But it’s critical that the right stuff is automated and the right stuff is left to human input. Making decisions about how to plan just using averages is dangerous.”

Weaver was blunt in her assessment: “We were talking in the green room about a network proudly announcing they can go from strategy to creative development in four hours instead of four weeks. That makes me want to vomit, because that can’t be good. That output needs debate and it needs a human touch.”

Connectedness is now a hygiene factor

Asked to give a final thought for CMOs, Bubani said: “Don’t plan in a siloed fashion. The connectedness is basically a hygiene factor in any campaign. If you don’t do away with those walls, you’re going to fall.”

Patton added: “Reach remains vitally important, but don’t forget the new channels like experiential – and don’t be afraid of AI. Embrace it, otherwise it will run you over.”

The message from Show Me the Media Money was clear: the funnel has collapsed, silos must go and success in 2026 will depend on balancing proven channels like TV with emerging opportunities in retail media, influencers, immersive experiences and AI-driven strategies.